Pages

Sunday Mass Reflection: 09/02/2012 THE LAW OF DIMINISHING RETURN

So I just got home from Ortigas, aside from working there today which is a Sunday, I decided to attend church at the mall at the Chapel of the Eucharistic Lord. It's a huge chapel inside the mall where you could attend Mass then go straight shopping. Come to think of it, this set up is very Filipino, remember as kids when malls aren't really that popular for every one, that after church our parents would take us either to a fast food or the market and buy something like food or a toy (which ever you would successfully negotiate) that you could bring home.

Anyways today is kinda special, why? Well I really liked the homily on today's mass at the mall because I learned something new.

click the picture for a bigger image

The Law Of Diminishing Return

We often say that "Doing the same thing over and over, expecting a different result is insanity". Well the Law of Diminishing Return suggest that doing the same thing (specially when it is effective) over and over, in time, would diminish the effect.

No is an exception, even us priests do get this as some point, what do you think would happen if you have said Mass after like 1500 times? the priest said. So it is important to reconnect, calibrate and re-enforce.

I can totally relate to what he said. In my work in the operations department of call centers, I often experience this just like any other agent. A lot of us would come to a point where the things that we use to do that has been effective would seem like not working anymore.

So remember, again what you need is to Reconnect, Calibrate, Re-analyze to come up with a new approach.

The Procession

The procession on the start of the Mass reminds us that we are on a journey, a pilgrimage, as the saying goes let all the good that I can do be done now as I would not be back on these roads we should always seize the moments.

We all say that we only live our life once so live it to the fullest, be a blessing to others as long as you still have the opportunity to do so.

As pilgrims we should all learn something through this journey.

Honestly this is the shortest part of the priest's homily but I would have to say that this is the deepest and I don't have enough words to verbalize it. But I hope that I got my message across.

The Liturgy of the Word

Listen and don't just hear. Well this is a task and I know a lot of people does have a hard time focusing on the readings but we should listen to the scriptures and learn from them just like how the first Christians listened to the same scriptures that we read every Sunday, sent to them as letters from Jesus's apostles.

The Offertory

If you would think about it, the priest opened everybody's mind and set the bar higher when it comes to the offerings that we give every Sunday. Why? what he said was it doesn't matter how much you gave what matters is how much it costed you. In other words its the not the amount but the value of your offering.

Each offering should be sacrificial, this means that it must cost something from you to give it. Say for example your 10 pesos that you were suppose to use to buy, say an ice cream but instead of buying your ice cream you just decided to offer it. Remember that Christ mentioned before that the old lady that gave her last silver offered so much more than the people who gave more than a silver coin.

The Holy Communion

This one is also close to my heart as it opened my mind. Every time when we pray most of us pray for something that we need. But why not when we receive the body and blood of Christ, why not pray to God and ask, What Can I Do For You.

I guess that makes a lot of sense, so I am not gonna say anything further.

Till next Sunday Reflections.

Ian

1 comment:

Amen, Father Ian. Thanks for sharing your insights and inspiration. The law applies to many things - jobs, relationships, spirituality, well life itself. As for the procession, we as travelers (even to a tourist like me) can relate to that.